Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's second Mission: Impossible film, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT, a very highly-regarded entry in the franchise that frankly Simon and Jim are a bit meh about. They discuss how Henry Cavill (and his $3 million moustache) is a great addition to the film, the shift in Ethan's character towards mythologising messianic tropes, McQuarrie's obsession with continuity in the franchise, the franchise's continuing approach to femininity in action films, and the script's lazy misunderstanding of political anarchism.

Content warnings: nuclear explosions and mass death; violent deaths including murder and assassination; destruction of religious sites; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; flying including parachuting and helicopter crashes.

Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.

Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/RQWZD7BU

Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's first Mission: Impossible film of many, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION. They discuss how this film both subverts the tropes of this franchise and simultaneously develops the 'house style' for the rest of the franchise, the continuing themes around government accountability and 'Deep State' conspiracy theories, how the character of Ilsa Faust represents a new expression of femininity for this franchise and action films in general, the expression of neuroqueerness through Mission: Impossible and Ethan Hunt, and Zhang Jingchu's extremely small but top-billed part pandering to the Chinese market.

Content warnings: violent death including murder and assassination; US-backed violent coups in Latin America; cult leadership and the Church of Scientology; "terrorist" actions against arms manufacturers and major financial institutions; drowning and suffocation.

Our theme song is Star - X - Impossible Mission (Mission Impossible Theme PsyTrance Remix) by EDM Non-Stop (https://soundcloud.com/edm-non-stop/star-x-impossible-mission) licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.

Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/I3SDJBUL

Simon and Jim are back for a Dinopod bonus episode on the recently released JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH. They discuss how this film fits in with a recurring theme of 2025 blockbuster films going 'back to basics', the elements that distinguish this film from the other Jurassic World films and make it more of a Jurassic Park film, how the impeccable pacing, competent structure, and intelligent writing distinguish this from the previous Jurassic World trilogy, what the film gets right about treating dinosaurs as animals, open source technology, and the nature of ecology in the Anthropocene, and how sick they are of mutated hybrid monster dinosaurs.

The Impossipod will return later in the month for an episode discussing MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION.

Content warnings: domestic violence and child abuse, genetic experimentation and mutation, violent death, capitalist exploitation of pharmaceuticals.

Our theme song is Jurassic Park Remix by Gabriel Filósofo available on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/gfilosofo/jurassic-park-remix

Full references for this episode available in Zotero at https://www.zotero.org/groups/5642177/take_one/collections/XQ6WLBM6